Sunday, 25 November 2012

Look out Dundalk, the Poetry Divas are coming. And we're bringing our very own honorary Divo, Michael Farry.

Michael Farry is a retired primary teacher.His poetry is in journals in Ireland and abroad, and was selected for Poetry Ireland Introductions, 2011. In
2009 he was third in the Patrick Kavanagh Poetry MS Competition,
shortlisted for the Bridport Poetry Competition and the Plough Prize.
Doghouse Books published his first collection, Asking for Directions,
2012

The Poetry Divas are coming to DkIT for a gig at the Mac Anna Theatre in DKIT, Wednesday, November 28th, from 6.30-8.15pm. The
evening will be hosted by DKIT’s new Writer-in-residence Ferdia Mac
Anna, author of The Last of the High Kings and The Rocky Years.

The Poetry Divas have performed at the Festival of the Fires, Liss Ard and the Electric Picnic festivals this year.

You
can look forward to a night of great poetry, epic satire, emotion,
craic, beauty and reflection in a special and unique celebration of
rhyme, word and image.

Saturday, 24 November 2012

Write a story for the Walker Books/Mumsnet Book of Bedtime Stories:
Enter the Walker Books/Mumsnet writing competition and your story
could be included in an illustrated gift book of Bedtime Stories for the
under-sevens. For your chance to be considered, submit your original
manuscript of up to 1,500 words

Deadline: 30 November 2012

All entries will be read and a shortlist of 20 stories will be
compiled by a panel of leading industry experts, including former
Children’s Laureate Michael Rosen. The shortlist will be announced on 28
January 2013 and available online for Mumsnetters to vote for their
favourite stories and determine the ten winning stories.

The winning authors will each receive £500 and the winning
stories will be illustrated and included in a book of bedtime stories
published by Walker Books in October 2013.

The competition is open to you if you are:
(a) a resident of UK or
Republic of Ireland;
(b) 18 years old or over at the time of entry;
(c) a
registered member of Mumsnet or Gransnet (free to register);
(d) free
to enter into the terms and conditions set out in the rules of entry;
(e) happy to have your story edited;
(f) happy to take part in
reasonable marketing activity and publicity

Tuesday, 20 November 2012

Did you notice the hiatus? Did you miss me? I was travelling. I'm back now full of caffeine.

Tomorrow Wednesday 21 November is the nine month anniversary since Pussy Riot, the punky protest group of Russian women performed in the Cathedral of Christ the Savior of the Russian Orthodox Church in Moscow and were locked up for denouncing the Russian Orthodox Church’s support for President Vladimir Putin.

Three members of the collective, Nadezhda Tolokonnikova, Maria Alyokhina
and Yekaterina Samutsevich, were arrested and held in custody until
August when they were each sentenced to two years in prison on charges
of ‘hooliganism motivated by religious hatred’. At their appeal hearing
in October, the two-year jail term of Samutsevich was suspended, but the
sentences against Tolokonnikova and Alyokhina were upheld. They have
since been separated and transferred to notorious prison colonies, far
from Moscow and their young children.

In order to raise and maintain awareness of their case, English PEN launched Poems for Pussy Riot,
inviting poets from all over the world to write creative responses to
the case. A collection of the contributions, Catechism: Poems for Pussy
Riot, was published as a pay-by-donation e-book on 1 October 2012 to
coincide with their first appeal hearing. A print-on-demand version is
now also available, with all proceeds going to the Pussy Riot Legal Fund
and English PEN’s Writers at Risk Programme.

The Poetry Divas are among a good number of poets reading at an event in Dublin, supported by Irish PEN, on Wednesday
21 November at The Grand Social (35 Lower Liffey Street, Dublin 1).
Start time is 6.30pm and admission is free.

Monday, 12 November 2012

Galway Review are looking for submissions for their print anthology coming out
in January 2013. This printed and bound work will be the first print
venture for The Galway Review -

They say:

To submit simply send poems, reviews, short stories, or journals tothegalwayreview@gmail.com with
‘Anthology Submission’ in the subject field. Please send your writings
within the body of the email and attach the photographs as jpegs. We
can’t wait to see your work! Please keep your submissions clear and
sharp.

Remember that:

readers who lack your particular background, may need a simple and clear context;

the writings ought to make sense to readers anywhere in the world, not just to your own self.

Saturday, 10 November 2012

An intriguing weekend workshop on crime writing at the Irish Writers Centre

17th November 2012 10.30am-4.30pm

€150/135

A course designed as a practical approach to crime fiction writing. Over
two days we will discuss how to develop characters, plot and
atmosphere. Hone your criminally-minded skills as we create scenes of
murder, revenge and ask whodunnit and why? Police procedural v Private
I, which offers more scope to the author? And POV, can first person
delivery stymy plot development or does it take the novel to another
level?

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

The 27th annual Poetry Business Book & Pamphlet Competition is now open for entries.

JUDGE: Simon Armitage. (A personal hero of mine)

DEADLINE: Last post on 29 November 2012, or online by midnight on 1 December.

ENTRY FEE: £25, or £20 for North subscribers and Friends of the Poetry Business. A £1 surcharge is applied to online entries.

The Book & Pamphlet Competition invites entrants to
submit a collection of 20-24 pages of poems for the chance to win a cash
prize and publication by Smith/Doorstop Books.

Four first stage winners are selected and given the
opportunity to submit a full-length manuscript to the second round of
the competition, in which one of them can win book publication. The
three first-stage winners receive pamphlet publication.

All four winners will receive an equal share of £2,000,
and have a launch reading at The Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere (Spring
2013) and read alongside Simon Armitage at the 2013 Off The Shelf
Festival in Sheffield.

The winning collections are beautifully produced, widely
promoted, reviewed in high quality poetry magazines and
nationalnewspapers, and entered for all eligible awards and prizes. The
collections are also launched at high profile readings and distributed
via bookshops across the UK.

Sunday, 4 November 2012

A new one for me, literary festival in Stradbally, Co Laois from Nuala on Women Rule Writer blog.

OFFICIAL OPENING & LAUNCH

The festivities commence on Friday 9th
November with the official launch in Áras an Chontae at 7.30pm. The event will
also incorporate the launch of exciting new poetry collections by Ann Egan,
Kathy D’Arcy, Jamie O’Connell and Pat Boran with James Ryan chairing the
readings. Readings by all the authors will be interspersed by music from
guitarist, Conal Rae from Laois School of Music. Admission is free and books will
be on sale on the night.

CHILDREN'S EVENTS

The Festival also includes a Children’s
Programme. On Friday 9th November award-winning author and
illustrator, Niamh Sharkey, Laureate na nÓg, will visit schools in the county
to create a Monster Doodle and then on to Abbeyleix Library for a reading at
3.30pm. Children’s author Roisín Meaney will also pay a visit to some
lucky schools in Laois and give a reading in Portlaoise Library at 3.30pm.
Admission to the children’s events is free of charge.

WORKSHOPS

Adult writers workshops will also take place in the
Dunamaise Arts Centre. Hennessy award winner Niamh Boyce will hold a workshop
entitled, “Poems Beget Poems” on the Friday 9th November running from 10am
to 4pm. This workshop would suit writers who have begun to write poetry
and would like to explore it further.

Also for adults, well-known writer John MacKenna
will hold a workshop entitled, “Seasons of the Heart”, exploring the ways in
which we can draw on nature and our own life experiences to create fiction and
memoir. This workshop runs from 10am to 4pm on the Saturday 10th November in
the Dunamaise Arts Centre.

READING

The final event on Saturday evening is an exciting
mix of readings and music featuring Christine Dwyer Hickey, Niamh Boyce and Nuala
Ní Chonchúir, chaired by Seamus Hosey,

with music by harpist Claire O Donnell. This
will take place in the Arthouse & Library, Stradbally at 8.00pm on the 10th
November.

Bookings for all events can be made at the
Dunamaise Arts Centre Tel: 057 8663355. www.dunamaise.ie